In the production of crude oil at remote locations such as, for example, on an offshore deep water platform, producers are confronted with the problem of dealing with gas associated with the crude oil. This gas comprises primarily methane with minor amounts of C.sub.2 -C.sub.5. Simply burning the associated gas in a flare is not attractive either environmentally or economically. The associated gas cannot always be economically or easily liquefied for transport, transported by tanker or pipeline or returned to the reservoir. In such instances, it would be desirable to convert the associated gas into a liquid fuel such as methanol. However, the remote location and space requirements, particularly on deep water production platforms, impose requirements on methanol conversion equipment which have not, as far as applicant is aware, been met by prior art methanol conversion plants. The methanol conversion plant must operate in a small area and cannot have tall equipment because of the potential pitching of the platform or other vessel in which the methanol plant is located. The methanol plant must be able to start up with limited utilities such as electricity and water. In most instances, the plant must also be operable without steam and be self-contained so as not to require supplying any fresh water or electricity. In addition, the methanol plant should be simple to construct from modular units and capable of operation for a long term without attention by a human operator.
As far as applicant is aware there is no plant or process for converting associated gas from crude oil into methanol which satisfies all of these requirements.